GANGTOK: February 3, 2012: Within month of the formation of the much hailed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, talks of reviving the demand for a free Gorkhaland have started cropping up yet again. In the most recent development 71-year-old former Gorkhaland Liberation Organization (GLO) chief Chhatrey Subba has said, “I spent 11 years in Jalpaiguri Jail for the cause of the identity for the Gorkhas, and I am always ready for it.” The GLO president Chattrey Subba said in an interaction with a local daily on February 2, at Kalimpong.

Chattrey Subba, for his staunch support for a separate state, had fallen out with Ghisingh after the latter signed the accord to establish the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988. Subba opposed the accord which came after a 28- month agitation for a Gorkhaland state. The people felt cheated that after such a long struggle, the end result came to a naught. Subba went on to form the GLO and used militant tactics to continue the Gorkhaland struggle in the 80s. Later he was arrested in 2001 in connection with a murder attempt on Subash Ghisingh, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader. Subba was released from the Jalpaiguri correctional home last year on February 10, 2011.

Subba said to this daily, “Ghising sold the desire of Gorkha community in 1988 as he was lured by money.”

Expressing his displeasure with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) led Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), Subba said, “It is because of identity crises that Gorkha are still facing problems. Gorkhaland is a hundred year old demand and it must reach its culimination,” said Subba.

Subba vowed, “I will start a fresh movement under my own banner. I am not interested in the unification between Darjeeling and Sikkim and want salvation from the clutches of West Bengal”, however, “We hope a great deal of support from Sikkim for Gorkhaland.”

Subba warned the all the Darjeeling Hill parties not to give false hope and suggestions on the issue of Gorkhaland. The communities are in a position to sacrifice their life for the cause and the leaders should lead them in the right direction. He asserted, “Do not try to mortgage the native (Gorkha) land.”

People are still confused about Gorkhaland. It is but on the part of they themselves to choose the right leaders, said Subba. However, Subba called he praised GJM chief Bimal Gurung Subba as sincere, honest, and soil lover who is misguided by people around him.

With Sikkim Mail inputs

 

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